Much debate on long vs. short letters continuously arrives in my email. I've always said "The More you Tell - The More you Sell! Usually in your copy, the more you write, the better. I receive one page sales letters all the time for products and services and they don't have enough room to tell me what they're offering. There's always a debate whether a long salesletter works better than a short one. People will say they don't like to read a long salesletter, but they are not the customer. There is no debate what so ever, without exception, a long salesletter outsells a short one. The ones that like short copy are the ad agencies because they like to write snappy slogans and fancy copy and win awards. There's one major drawback to award winning marketing campaigns. The awards are based on how creative and clever you can be and how pretty the marketing campaigns are. What does that do for you? They look great, but they don't sell. The only award you want to win is with dollars that are invested in your company by your customers. Short salesletters don't make sense. When you take time to think about it, if you were going to send a salesman out to do his job, you wouldn't say, "You have to do this in one minute or less. You can only talk to the prospect for one minute." Or, "You can only say up to 100 words." If you don't do that to your salesmen, why would you do this to your salesletter? One thing that you want to start thinking is that all salesletters are is salesmanship in print form. You wouldn't limit your best salesperson to one or two minutes to make the pitch. The same goes for writing salesletters and getting people to read it. If what you offer is truly interesting to your prospects, they will keep reading and want more information to help them make their decision. You owe it to yourself to tell them as much as possible. When writing your sales copy, if your reader is even half interested in your offer, they need detailed information before they even consider buying from you. Lots of it. And if they are interested in what you have to offer, they will read as much as it takes to get the full picture. Facts and information give both the confidence and the courage to make a purchase. So I suspect that far too many writers are stingy with their information because they are afraid of producing copy, which they think may be 'too long'. They believe that long copy will bore their readers. This is far from the truth. If you can take it one step further try to paint a picture that the reader will envision if they buy your product. The art of writing a great sales message is getting the prospect to visualize what you talking about while keeping them interested enough to want to read on. If you get the prospect to visualize as I mentioned earlier it creates a harmonious bond with you that they can relate to. They then can see their desired outcome through the benefit of your product or service. If you can achieve this the reader will be well on their way to making a purchase. The constant use of the hidden benefit will reinforce the need for the reader to take action and that after all is what you are intending to do with your copy, "take action". The final point I would like to make on this subject is the order process. Ask for the order. Do not assume that the reader knows how to navigate your website to the order form. Point it out and show it to them. Take them by the hand if you must, but please do not be afraid to ask for the order. Asking and showing the order form can increase your sales dramatically. When you do this back it up again by your 100% guarantee showing them they have nothing to loose by buying your product and everything to gain. Make the reader comfortable with you and your product and show them you have nothing to hide and have their best interests at heart. By offering a good guarantee it will inspire confidence and trust. Then re-state your offer and direct them to the order form again. Ask for the order at least 3 times. |
